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Urgent - Friend missed VLM registration
NorthEnder
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Hi everyone,
A clubmate has posted on our facebook page that he didn't get to registration until too late this early evening, and they've said he can't run. It doesn't sound like he was that late either.
Is it really impossible to register late? I can't believe that they are so strict when people have spent so long training or raising funds. And I know they don't want hundreds turning up at the very last minute, but traffic jams happen. Things happen.
If anyone has any clues or experience, I'm sure it would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Comments
How come he was late?
I take a wholly different view. But thanks anyway.
A little table near the start line for all those who missed the 3 days the expo was open ?
Thanks Dave. That is exactly what I''d expect. Such an easy and obvious thing to do. Clearly this message wasn't communicated to at least some of the people who manned the desks at the expo - who were absolutely adamant that he, and a group of others in the same boat, could not run.
I'm not sure I should pass on your news to him
I suppose, tho, lots of people would say, "let's not bother to make the effort to get to the expo, and just rock up at the little table by the start line" ?
It's such a massive event that sells out.....if they left it to the Sunday it would be a nightmare..
Why should they when it wasn't important enough to him to get there in a three day window...
If he woke up late in the morning or was delayed in traffic...would you expect them to delay the start just for him so he could run....
He may be gutted but how on earth can you expect a race this size to accommodate everyone who wants special service
NE, you've misunderstood. There's no little table. If there was, then as Dave says, there'd be a lot of people deciding the expo was just to inconvenient to bother with, and the organisers really want you to go to the expo.
I'm with the others.
You have 3 days to register. If you can't make it within that time, even if it is by accident, then I wouldn't expect the organisers to make contingency plans - that's your responsibility.
I feel sorry for your mate, I mean a 3 days expo open till something like 8PM leaves very little opportunity for people to get there...
Pretty tough on your mate NE. I can't see why people are so harsh. I don't think the organizers should necessarily make exceptions but I definitely feel sorry for him. Even the best-laid plans often go awry. I think it could be a real hassle for people from out of London to get to the expo but by making you go to the expo I guess they can charge more for stalls and advertising and keep the entry fee down.
It's not as if the times for the expo opening and closing weren't available to him for months, so He should have been able to plan his travel in plenty of time, leaving it til the very last minute was only asking for trouble.
Not sure of the numbers, But don't most competitors come from outside London ? Cougie made it from the wasteland north of Watford Gap, so it is possible
People even made if from countries outside the UK (shock horror), Not sure I would want to jeopardise, all the hard work of training by showing up at the last minute on the Saturday night, when you really should be relaxing anyway.
(Bet he doesn't do it again)
I agree Dave but I just think people are being harsh without knowing any circumstances.
You going to risk all the training effort, by turning up to register 5 minutes before the expo closes after 4 days of being open ?
I do have some sympathy for the athlete, we don't know their circumstances. If there had been a fatal accident closing the M1 for several hours, for example, then that's very difficult to overcome. On such rare occasions some events will keep registration open a bit longer for the affected athletes. If it's a one off set of circumstances particular to them, the athlete could try contacting the event before the expo closes (as they are likely to know that this issue has arisen) but unless it's life or death (in which case the athlete probably would prefer to defer anyway) it's quite difficult for a massive event like this to help. Their staff will have been at that expo for several days and are likely to have other jobs to move onto once the expo closes. Also, what's justifiable to one person, isn't to another. Like Cougie says, you have to draw a line somewhere and this is an event with 35-40 thousand participants who have had several days in order to register.
Sadly, I think it's a bit like catching a very important flight. You allow two hours to check in, then you add on an extra hour for contingencies and if you want to be super sure you add an extra hour on top of that. You can't leave anything to chance. I quote back to you, the athlete has made all that effort to train and raise funds, the athlete needs to be super organised to ensure they can make it to the expo, allowing time for issues.
Good analogy from Mouse.
I don't think people are being harsh, just realistic.
Maybe the OP could give more specifics of the exact details of their clubmates situation.
But with the expo open for 4 days there really is no reason to miss it. Numbers can be collected on a runners behalf, or if the circumstances stopped a runner from arriving before 5pm the day before, then surely some contingency should have been made.
Arguably they should stay open until a bit later on the Saturday, but as has been highlighted, the opening times have been posted for months.
That happened when I ran in 2000. We were driving down from Scotland, stopped on the Friday night at Rugby, leaving a shortish drive on the Saturday to get to the Expo and then to our hotel. Coming down the motorway at abot 10am, we joined the back of a queue which we could see went ahead for quite a long way. Fortunately my (now) husband sort of knew the area, and we got the map out, left once we had crept the mile or so to the next exit, and went cross country down some very small roads, and made it to the Expo at about 4pm.
Apparently the motorway didn't reopen until 6:30pm, so we would have missed registration. I don't know whether there were hundreds of runners stuck on the motorway, or if the organisers made any allowances. We were lucky - certainly much luckier than the poor souls in the accident that closed the road anyway.
To be honest, if I was coming to London from far away, I wouldn't risk collecting your number the day before because anything can happen. Stuck in traffic, train gets delayed. Even if you live one hour away from the expo. You will have difficulty contacting the marathon as most of their people will be at the expo or the marathon hotel.
Bottom line is the marathon published their opening hours in the magazine to every runner. The runner must make sure they give themselves good time to collect their number rather than chance it on the final day.